The specifications of Chinese herbal medicines naturally form and exist in the circulation and use of Chinese herbal medicines.Buyers and sellers negotiate price by quality. With the increasing demand for public health care,the cultivation,processing methods and circulation of Chinese herbal medicines have changed. Under the mode of pursuing output and short-term benefits,the traditional grade evaluation method has been difficult to apply to the current quality status of the pieces. Bran stir-baked Aurantii Fructus is a genuine medicinal material in Jiangxi province. It is widely used,but the quality level of bran stir-baked Aurantii Fructus on the market is not uniform. Quality constant method was used in this paper for grading the Chinese herbal slices of bran stir-baked Aurantii Fructus. Sixteen batches of different quality samples were collected and tested,and finally,eleven qualified batches of them were chosen as researcher objects. The results showed that the relative quality constant ranged from 2. 52 to 5. 60. The relative quality constant was ≥4. 48 for first grade bran stir-baked Aurantii Fructus,2. 80-4. 48 for the second grade pieces,and <2. 80 for the third grade pieces. The grades evaluation method for bran stir-baked Aurantii Fructus established in this paper included both appearance and index composition. The results were objective,accurate,quantitative,applicable,and the method was simple to operate and easy to popularize. This study showed that the quality constant method could be applied to the grade evaluation of bran stir-baked Aurantii Fructus,providing a reference for the grade evaluation of fruit-type decoction pieces.
Citrus ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; standards ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Quality Control

This study is to explore the reason of "the older, the better" of PCR and itsincrease of flavonoids. We identified the fun- gus isolated from the PCR using microscopic and molecular identification. HPLC method was used to determine the content of 4 fla- vonoids and to clarifythe regularity of them; UV spectrophotometry method was used to determine the total content of flavonoids; reverse thinking was applied to screen the fungus that have close relation to the change of flavonoids. Finally, we have isolated and identified 25 fungusfrom the PCR, which belong to 2 genus and 4 species, including pencillium commune, P. minioluteeum, P. citrinum, Aspergillus flavus and A. niger. The content of flavonoids was increased in the mildew PCR due to A. niger and other fungus. Therefore, "the ol- der, the better" of PCR had its scientific reason that the increase of flavonoids had a close relation of the metabolic activity of A. niger and other fungus.
Citrus ; chemistry ; microbiology ; Flavonoids ; analysis ; Fungi ; isolation & purification

Citrus aurantium is one of the most common traditional Chinese medicines. In this paper, the chemical components, content determination and pharmacological actions of C. aurantium were summarized for the comprehensive utilization of its resources. Because of the complicated resources of C. aurantium, only one single component as index couldn't reflect the quality and effects and comprehensive evaluation which concluding multiple components should be established in the future quality control. In recent years, the pharmacological effects research of C. aurantium has made tremendous progress, and it is important to explore new drugs from the development and utilization of the active ingredient of C. aurantium. In recent years, the pharmacological effects research of C. aurantium has made tremendous progress, and it is important to explore new drugs from the development and utilization of the active ingredient of C. aurantium.
Citrus ; chemistry ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo reveal the pharmacological activities of the components for their further utilization and development by studying the chemical constituents of Citrus changshan-huyou.

METHODThe structures were determined by repeated silica gel chromatographic separation and spectral analysis.

RESULTFive compounds were obtained, and identified as 3-oxo friedelin (I), limonin (II), beta-sitosterol (III), 8-(2',3'-dihydroxy-4'-methylbutane)-7-methoxycoumarin (IV), sucrose (V).

CONCLUSIONThe five compounds were obtained from this plant for the first time.

Citrus ; chemistry ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Limonins ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Sitosterols ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Sucrose ; chemistry ; isolation & purification

To explore the benefit and function of Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae (PCR). The chemical, pharmacological and clinical data was studied by literature summarization and compaed. PCR contains plenty of human indispensable nutrients, such as protein, vitamin C, carotenoid and life supporting trace elements. It answer for 15 of the 24 criteria of benefiting herbs that was seldom seen in other herbs for regulating Qi. PCR is a kind of herbs for regulating Qi with the action of benefiting, it could not only effect on superficial but also on essence.
Citrus ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Humans ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo develop a high performance capillary electrophoresis method for Citrus aurantium fingerprints to control its quality.

METHODThe background electrolyte (BGE) was an 80 mmol x L(-1) boric acid solution containing 15 mmol x L(-1) borate. The pH of the BGE was adjusted to 9.70 with KOH solution. The detection wavelength was 201 nm and a voltage of 16 kV was applied. The sample hydrodynamic injection was 0.4 ps with a duration time of 8 sec. C. aurantium was extracted by water and a set of capillary electrophoresis fingerprints (CEFP) containing 12 co-possessing peaks was obtained.

RESULTThere were good similarities between the standard CEFP and each set of CEFP of C. aurantium collected from eleven different places, and their similarity coefficients were between 0.973 and 0.996.

CONCLUSIONThe CEFP has acceptable precision, reproducibility and stability and can be used for the quality control of C. aurantium.

Borates ; chemistry ; Citrus ; chemistry ; Electrolytes ; chemistry ; Electrophoresis, Capillary ; methods ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Temperature

This experiment shows how to use the automated mass spectral deconvolution & identification system (AMDIS) to deconvolve the overlapped peaks in the total ion chromatogram (TIC) of volatile oil from Chineses materia medica (CMM). The essential oil was obtained by steam distillation. Its TIC was gotten by GC-MS, and the superimposed peaks in TIC were deconvolved by AMDIS. First, AMDIS can detect the number of components in TIC through the run function. Then, by analyzing the extracted spectrum of corresponding scan point of detected component and the original spectrum of this scan point, and their counterparts' spectra in the referred MS Library, researchers can ascertain the component's structure accurately or deny some compounds, which don't exist in nature. Furthermore, through examining the changeability of characteristic fragment ion peaks of identified compounds, the previous outcome can be affirmed again. The result demonstrated that AMDIS could efficiently deconvolve the overlapped peaks in TIC by taking out the spectrum of matching scan point of discerned component, which led to exact identification of the component's structure.
Chromatography ; methods ; Citrus ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Mass Spectrometry ; methods ; Oils, Volatile ; chemistry ; Plant Oils ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo establish the HPLC fingerprint of flavonoids of the six clinical frequently used Chinese materia medica for regulating Qi flow,such as Citri grandis, C. grands, Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium, Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium Viride, Aurantii Fructus, and Aurantii Fructus Immaturus from Citrus, and analysis differences in the fingerprints to provide scientific basis for profile-effect research and clinical reasonable use.

METHODHPLC was performed on a C18 column with methanol-water (with acetic acid), to establish HPLC fingerprints of the six kinds of medicinal herbs on the same chromatograph condition.

RESULTThe six frequently used Chinese materia medica were divided into naringin type and hesperidin type according to the method of phytochemotaxonomy. Based on the retention time of chromatograph peaks, C. grandis and C. grands had fifteen common peaks; Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium, Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium Viride, Aurantii Fructus and Aurantii Fructus Immaturus had ten common peaks. All herbs had five common peaks. Compared with mutual model, the holistic similarity of chromatograms of C. grandis and C. grands was in the range of 0.9285 - 0.9962. The degree of similarity was high. For Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium, Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium Viride and Aurantii Fructus Immaturus, it was in the range of 0.9221 - 0.9973 and high. But the similarity of Aurantii Fructus was only in 0.4547 - 0.7733 with the mutual model.

CONCLUSIONThe established fingerprints of flavonoids of the six common traditional Chinese medicines can be used to compare the differences intuitively. Meanwhile, the peak height and peak areas of characteristic peaks are different remarkably, but whether it is connected with the different function of regulating Qi flow of the six medical materials in clinical use, is still needed to be studied.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Citrus ; chemistry ; classification ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Flavonoids ; analysis ; Materia Medica ; chemistry

Aurantii Fructus is the dried and immature fruit of Citrus aurantium and its cultivars. To investigate the chemical constituents of Aurantii Fructus, the separation and purification of constituents were performed by column chromatography on silica gel LH-20, HW-40, ODS, PHPLC and PTLC. Fourteen flavonoids, including four flavone glycosides and ten polymethoxyflavones (PMFs) were isolated from the EtOAc fraction and Petroleum ether fraction of Aurantii Fructus and their structures were identified by physicochemical properties and spectral data (NMR and MS) as (2R) -and (2S)-6"-O-acetylprunin (1,2), naringenin-7-O-β-D-glucopyranside (3), 5,7,4'-trihydroxy-8,3'-dimethoxyflavone-3-O-6"-(3-hydroxyl-3-methylglutaroyl)-β-D-glucopyranoside(4), 4'-hydroxy-5,6, 7-trimethoxyflavone (5), natsudaidain (6), nobiletin (7), sinensetin (8), 5,6,7,4'-tetramethoxyflavone (9), 5,7,8,4'-tetramethoxyflavone (10), 3,5,6,7,8,3',4'-heptamethoxyflavone (11), tangeretin (12), 5-demethyl nobiletin (13), and 5-hydroxy-6,7,3', 4'-tetramethoxyflavone (14). Compound 3-5 s were isolated from this plant for the first time and compound 1 was a new one.
Citrus ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Flavonoids ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Mass Spectrometry ; Molecular Structure

OBJECTIVETo develop an HPLC method for determination of fingerprints and evaluate green tangerine peel (GTP) processed with vinegar.

METHODThe samples were extracted with 50% ethanol using ultrasonic bath and analyzed on a Chromasil C18 column eluted with methanol and water containing 0.2% acetic acid in a linear gradient program. The flow rate was 1.0 mL x min(-1), and detection wavelength was set at 280 nm.

RESULTThe RSD values of relative retention times and peak areas of main peaks were all less than 5%. The fingerprints of Geqingpi and Sihuaqingpi were different. The fingerprints of the processed and the unprocessed were almost same, and the fingerprint differences among the different batches processed with the same technology from the same unprocessed GTP were not obvious.

CONCLUSIONThe influence of processing with vinegar on 50% ethanol extracts were not evident, and the technological pross was stable. It was found that the fingerprints of Geqingpi and Sihuaqingpi were different, but it should be study further.

Acetic Acid ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Citrus ; chemistry ; Drug Stability ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods